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In the 21st century investor’s toolkit, there are many methods shareholders can use to watch the equity markets. Some of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading sentiment. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the top picks of the elite investment managers can trounce the market by a solid margin (see just how much).

Just as key, bullish insider trading sentiment is another way to look at the marketplace. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of motivations for an upper level exec to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Several empirical studies have demonstrated the impressive potential of this strategy if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

What have hedge funds been doing with WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC)?

At Q2’s end, a total of 23 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of -18% from the previous quarter. With the smart money’s positions undergoing their usual ebb and flow, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were boosting their stakes substantially.

According to our 13F database, Alan Fournier’s Pennant Capital Management had the largest position in WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC), worth close to $187.2 million, comprising 3.5% of its total 13F portfolio. The second largest stake is held by Third Point, managed by Dan Loeb, which held a $74.8 million position; 1.7% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Remaining peers that are bullish include Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow’s Blue Mountain Capital, Charles Clough’s Clough Capital Partners and Sanford J. Colen’s Apex Capital.

Due to the fact WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) has faced bearish sentiment from the entirety of the hedge funds we track, we can see that there were a few fund managers who were dropping their entire stakes in Q1. Intriguingly, John Armitage’s Egerton Capital Limited cut the biggest investment of the “upper crust” of funds we monitor, valued at about $62.4 million in stock. Donald Chiboucis’s fund, Columbus Circle Investors, also dumped its stock, about $24.5 million worth. These moves are interesting, as total hedge fund interest fell by 5 funds in Q1.

What have insiders been doing with WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC)?

Legal insider trading, particularly when it’s bullish, is at its handiest when the company in question has experienced transactions within the past 180 days. Over the latest half-year time period, WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) has experienced zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We’ll check out the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC). These stocks are DXP Enterprises Inc (NASDAQ:DXPE), Airgas, Inc. (NYSE:ARG), Wesco Aircraft Holdings Inc (NYSE:WAIR), MSC Industrial Direct Co Inc (NYSE:MSM), and Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT). This group of stocks are the members of the industrial equipment wholesale industry and their market caps are similar to WCC’s market cap.